Green Party boost for Mark Hunter in Cheadle

by Iain Roberts on 10 May, 2017

The Green Party has announced that it will not be standing a candidate in Cheadle constituency in the General Election. Instead, it is encouraging progressive voters of all parties to vote for Liberal Democrat Mark Hunter, the candidate with the best chance of defeating the Conservatives in this marginal seat.

Cheadle was the most pro-Remain of Stockport’s constituencies in the 2016 EU Referendum, and is a Conservative – Liberal Democrat marginal. The Green Party wants to try to prevent a dangerous Tory landslide, which would threaten our NHS, mean even deeper cuts to public services, and push a hard Brexit – putting jobs and our environment at risk.

As a result of constructive talks, the Green Party will stand down its selected candidate for the Cheadle constituency and in return the Liberal Democrats will not put up a candidate against the Green Party’s in Edgeley and Cheadle Heath ward in the 2018 local elections.

“Both our parties support a truly proportional electoral system, but under the current flawed voting system lending a vote to Mark Hunter offers the best prospect of electing someone in Cheadle who is committed to changing the system and opposing the Tories.” said Stockport Green Party chair Malcolm Brown.

“We are disappointed that the Labour Party has refused to join any alliance against the Tories, and are opposing Green candidates with a real chance of winning in Tory seats on June 8th. The country desperately needs a strong unified opposition to save our NHS and to protect our vital public services from further Tory cuts.” Malcolm Brown added.

Liberal Democrat spokesman Cllr Iain Roberts commented “The Conservatives rely on the other parties splitting their vote to win seats like Cheadle. We are pleased to have reached an agreement with the Green Party – only Mark Hunter’s Liberal Democrats can beat the Conservatives here.”

The Liberal Democrats have ruled out any coalition after the General Election. Cheadle is one of a number of seats across the country where the Greens and Liberal Democrats have reached agreement to support the candidate best placed to beat the Conservative.